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2002: The Category Crash

Category 7 cabling was ratified in 2002, boasting a bandwidth of 600 MHz and high-speed performance of up 10 Gbps over the full 100 metres. It was a fully shielded S/FTP cable with foil shielding surrounding each twisted pair and outer braided shield surrounding all four pairs.

However, instead of the typical standard RJ45 connector, Cat 7 was different and used GG45 and TERA connectors. This resulted in existing hardware becoming incompatible, making hardware upgrades difficult and more expensive than compared to other RJ45-based alternatives.
While the GG45 connectors were backwards compatible with RJ45, it was never recognised by TIA and instead remained mostly a European ISO/IEC standard (11801), limiting its global reach.

During the same year in June 2002, Category 6 was ratified, surpassing its predecessor Cat 5e by supporting higher bandwidth and frequencies of up to 250 MHz, compared to Cat 5e's 100 MHz. It was able to achieve 10 Gbps over shorter distances of up to 55 metres and 1 Gbps up to 100 metres.

Unlike Cat 7, it used the standard RJ45 connector type and had the upper hand of with its TIA/EIA standardisation. Cat 6 had quickly grew to be the favoured alternative for new installations due to its lower cost, ease of deployment and broader hardware compatibility.

2006: The Cables Predict the Future

Cat 7 Ethernet cables present a contradiction when it comes to their promise of delivering 10 Gbps speeds, particularly when viewed in the context of industry standards. Although Cat 7 was designed and introduced before 10GBASE-T was officially standardized by the IEEE in 2006, it was already being marketed as capable of supporting 10 Gigabit Ethernet over copper in 2002.

How could Cat 7 reliably promise 10 Gbps performance when the protocol it was supposed to support didn't formally exist yet? Was it a plot all along or do cables really predict the future?

2009: The Secret Cat 6A Agenda

Category 6A (Cat 6A) was ratified in 2009 as an enhanced version of the earlier Category 6 standard. The "A" stands for "augmented," reflecting the cable's improved performance capabilities over its predecessor. Cat 6A was specifically designed to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GBASE-T) with frequencies up to 500 MHz over 100 metres.

It became widely adopted due to its dual ratification by both TIA and ISO/IEC, along with its RJ45 compatibility and lower cost. Despite having a lower bandwidth of up to 500 Mhz than compared to Cat 7's 600 Mhz, it offered similar performance and was more than enough for nearly all enterprise applications.

2010: The Cat 7A Cover-up

Cat 7A (Category 7 Augmented) was introduced in 2010 as an enhancement to Cat 7, primarily to support 40 Gigabit Ethernet over copper, with higher frequencies of up to 1000 MHz, compared to Cat 7's 600 MHz.

However, like its predecessor, it was never recognised by ANSI/TIA and again contradicting itself as the 40GBASE-T standard only became a standard in 2012 - 2 years after its release. It continued to rely on GG45 or TERA connectors, although is often terminated using Cat 6a keystone jacks due to compatibility and practicality. While this approach may limit the full performance potential of Cat 7a, it provides a more cost-effective and accessible solution for connecting to standard devices.

With the competition from Cat 6A, it was hard for Cat 7A to gain traction. Cat 6A offered 10 Gbps speeds over 100 meters, used the widely adopted RJ45 connectors, and was officially standardized by TIA, making it a practical and cost-effective choice for most networks.

2016: Assassinated by Cat 8

Category 8 (Cat 8) was officially introduced in 2016 as the next major advancement in Ethernet cabling. It was designed to meet the growing demands of data centres, enterprise networks and high-performance computing environments. Unlike its predecessors, Cat 8 was built specifically to support data transmission speeds of 25 Gbps and 40 Gbps, making it a significant leap from the 10 Gbps capabilities of Cat 6A and Cat 7.

One of Cat 8's most important features is that it retains the standard RJ45 connector, ensuring backward compatibility with existing network infrastructure. This was a critical advantage over Cat 7 and Cat 7A, which used non-standard connectors like GG45 or TERA. By sticking with RJ45, Cat 8 made upgrading more straightforward and cost-efficient for network administrators.

Cat 8 cables are fully shielded (S/FTP) to minimize interference and maintain signal integrity, which is essential at such high transmission rates. However, one trade-off is that Cat 8 has a shorter maximum cable length-up to 30 meters-which makes it best suited for short-distance, high-speed connections such as switch-to-switch or server-to-switch links within data centres.

With its official recognition by ANSI/TIA, superior performance, and industry-standard connectors, Cat 8 quickly became the preferred option for environments requiring extreme speed and reliability. It essentially rendered Cat 7A obsolete, offering greater speeds, better standardization, and improved interoperability.

This was the final straw. By the time there was a real demand for its speeds, Cat8 had already entered the market. While both offer similar data rates, Cat8 supports frequencies up to 2,000 MHz and aligns with modern IEEE standards. This makes Cat8 a more attractive option for applications that might have otherwise considered Cat7.
In essence, Cat 7 arrived at an inconvenient time and didn't really stand a chance. As a result, many networks transitioned directly from Cat 6 to Cat 6A, then moved on to Cat 8-effectively bypassing Cat 7.